I was not having much luck with Ancestry's new collection of Wills and Probate files, so today I started looking at my Fitzpatrick's and go lucky! First I found Thomas J. Fitzpatrick. He was the older brother of my great grandmother, Cecilia Fitzpatrick O'Donnell. Thomas had a photo studio if Bessemer, Alabama. I thought I might find something for him and what I found was he didn't leave a will. So I found that it was filed 3 March 1927 with his wife Mary C. Fitzpatrick as Administratrix. The actual settlement did not happen until 24 September of 1928.
The citation for this is: ancestry,com "Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999", File no. 1028, Thomas J. Fitzpatrick, 3 March 1927, accessed 3 Sep 2015 [online digital image]. Citing: The State of Alabama, Jefferson County, Probate Court, Bessemer Division.
The second one I found was for Rev. William H. Fitzpatrick. He was the uncle of Cecilia Fitzpatrick O'Donnell. He was a Catholic Priest in Boston, Massachusetts. I knew he had a will from the letters I had received scans of from my Fitzpatrick cousin. The letters were written by James Fitzpatrick, the son of Thomas J. Fitzpatrick. James had mentioned the will in one letter talking about Father Fitz's nieces that he left money to in the will. It sounded like James had gotten a copy of the will to have seen that, but that was really all he mention about it. But one other item that was mentioned in the will answered another question. We did not know from the letters where Stephen Fitzpatrick, 3x great grandfather, died and was buried. We knew that Stephen's wife died and was buried in Boston, not sure about Stephen. William had bought a plot with 4 graves, in St. Mary's Cemetery in Dorchester, Massachusetts. I had called the cemetery a couple of months ago. They could tell me that William's mother was buried in the cemetery but could not tell me where. She could tell me that William was in the plot that he bought and another person, George McNeil, is buried there. Do not know who he was. the office told me she was unable to tell me who was in the other 2 graves because the old records were not kept very well. She said the William's mother could be there but she is not sure about the other one. But the will does state that William was to be buried "in my own lot in the old Dorchester Catholic Cemetery, Bernard Street, between the graves of my father and mother." So hopefully that was the case. William made this will 26 June 1913, he died 12 December 1913 and the will was allowed 1 January 1914. The citation for this is:Ancestry.com "Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991" William H. Fitzpatrick, will filed 18 Dec 1913, [online digital image], accessed 3 Sep 2015. Citing: Probate Record Books (1900-1916), and Probate Docket Books (1901-1916), Suffolk County, Massachusetts; Probate Court (Suffolk County), Probate Place: Suffolk, Massachusetts.
So all in all is was a good genealogy day!
